Gratitude, thankfulness, gratefulness, or appreciation is a feeling, emotion or attitude in acknowledgment of a benefit that one has received or will receive. The experience of gratitude has historically been a focus of several world religions, and has been considered extensively by moral philosophers such as Adam Smith. The systematic study of gratitude within psychology only began around the year 2000, possibly because psychology has traditionally been focused more on understanding distress rather than understanding positive emotions. However, with the advent of the positive psychology movement, gratitude has become a mainstream focus of psychological research. The study of gratitude within psychology has focused on the understanding of the short term experience of the emotion of gratitude (state gratitude), individual differences in how frequently people feel gratitude (trait gratitude), and the relationship between these two aspects.Comparison with indebtednessGratitude is not the same as indebtedness. While both emotions occur following help, indebtedness occurs when a person perceives that they are under an obligation to make some repayment of compensation for the aid. The emotions lead to different actions; indebtedness can motivate the recipient of the aid to avoid the person who has helped them, whereas gratitude can motivate the recipient to seek out their benefactor and to improve their relationship with them.As a motivator of behaviourGratitude may also serve to reinforce future pro-social behaviour in benefactors. For example, one experiment found that customers of a jewellery store who were called and thanked showed a subsequent 70% increase in purchases. In comparison, customers who were thanked and told about a sale showed only a 30% increase in purchases, and customers who were not called at all did not show an increase. In another study, regular patrons of a restaurant gave bigger tips when servers wrote “Thank you” on their checks.Major theoretical approachesThe link between spirituality and gratitude has recently become a popular subject of study. While these two characteristics are certainly not dependant on each other, studies have found that spirituality is capable of enhancing a person’s ability to be grateful and therefore, those who regularly attend religious services or engage in religious activities are more likely to have a greater sense of gratitude in all areas of life. Gratitude is viewed as a prized human propensity in the Christian, Buddhist, Muslim, Jewish, and Hindu traditions. Worship with gratitude to God is a common theme in such religions and therefore, the concept of gratitude permeates religious texts, teachings, and traditions. For this reason, it is one of the most common emotions that religions aim to provoke and maintain in followers and is regarded as a universal religious sentiment.Jewish conceptionsIn Judaism, gratitude is an essential part of the act of worship and a part of every aspect of a worshiper’s life. According to the Hebrew worldview, all things come from God and because of this, gratitude is extremely important to the followers of Judaism. The Hebrew Scriptures are filled with the idea of gratitude. Two examples included in the psalms are “O Lord my God, I will give thanks to you forever,” and “I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart” (Ps. 30:12; Ps. 9:1). The Jewish prayers also often incorporate gratitude beginning with the Shema, where the worshiper states that out of gratitude, “You shall love the Eternal, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might” (Deut. 6:5). The concluding prayer, the Alenu, also speaks of gratitude by thanking God for the particular destiny of the Jewish people. Along with these prayers, faithful worshipers recite more than one hundred blessings called berachot throughout the day. In Judaism there is also a major emphasis on gratitude for acts of human kindness and goodness. Once you stop being selfish you appreciate other people and therefore appreciate when they do something nice hence you can be grateful.Christian conceptionsGratitude has been said to mould and shape the entire Christian life. Martin Luther referred to gratitude as “The basic Christian attitude” and today it is still referred to as “the heart of the gospel.” As each Christian believes they were created by a personal God, Christians are strongly encouraged to praise and give gratitude to their creator. In Christian gratitude, God is seen as the selfless giver of all good things and because of this, there is a great sense of indebtedness that enables Christians to share a common bond, shaping all aspects of a follower’s life. Gratitude in Christianity is an acknowledgment of God’s generosity that inspires Christians to shape their own thoughts and actions around such ideals. Instead of simply a sentimental feeling, Christian gratitude is regarded as a virtue that shapes not only emotions and thoughts but actions and deeds as well. According to Jonathan Edwards (theologian), in his A Treatise Concerning Religious Affections Love, Gratitude, and thankfulness toward God are among the signs of true religion. Because of this interpretation, modern measures of religious spirituality include assessments of thankfulness and gratitude towards God. Allport (1950) suggested that mature religious intentions come from feelings of profound gratitude and Edwards (1746/1959) claimed that the “affection” of gratitude is one of the most accurate ways of finding the presence of God in a person’s life. In a study done by Samuels and Lester (1985) it was contended that in a small sample of Catholic nuns and priests, out of 50 emotions, love and gratitude were the most experienced emotion towards God.Islamic conceptionsThe Islamic book, The Quran, is filled with the idea of gratitude. Islam encourages its followers to be grateful and express thanks to God in all circumstances. Islamic teaching emphasizes the idea that those who are grateful will be rewarded with more. A traditional Islamic saying states that, “The first who will be summoned to paradise are those who have praised God in every circumstance” In the Quran it is also stated in Sura 14 that those who are grateful will be given more by God. The prophet Mohammad also said, “Gratitude for the abundance you have received is the best insurance that the abundance will continue.” Many practices of the Islamic faith also encourage gratitude. The Pillar of Islam calling for daily prayer encourages believers to pray to God five times a day in order to thank him for his goodness. The pillar of fasting during the month of Ramadan is for the purpose of putting the believer in a state of gratitude.Individual differencesMuch of the recent work psychological research into gratitude has focused on the nature of individual difference in gratitude, and the consequences of being a more or less grateful person. Three scales have been developed to measure individual differences in gratitude, each of which assesses somewhat different conceptions. The GQ6 measures individual differences in how frequently and intensely people feel gratitude. The Appreciation Scale measures 8 different aspects of gratitude: appreciation of people, possessions, the present moment, rituals, feeling of awe, social comparisons, existential concerns, and behaviour which expresses gratitude. The GRAT assesses gratitude towards other people, gratitude towards the world in general, and a lack of resentment for what you do not have. A recent study showed that each of these scales are actually all measuring the same way of approaching life; this suggests that individual differences in gratitude include all of these components.Empirical findingsAssociation with well-beingA large body of recent work has suggested that people who are more grateful have higher levels of subjective well-being. Grateful people are happier, less depressed, less stressed, and more satisfied with their lives and social relationships Grateful people also have higher levels of control of their environments, personal growth, purpose in life, and self acceptance. Grateful people have more positive ways of coping with the difficulties they experience in life, being more likely to seek support from other people, reinterpreted and grow from the experience, and spend more time planning how to deal with the problem. Grateful people also have less negative coping strategies, being less likely to try to avoid the problem, deny there is a problem, blame themselves, or cope through substance use. Grateful people sleep better, and this seems to be because they think less negative and more positive thoughts just before going to sleep.Gratitude has been said to have one of the strongest links with mental health of any character trait. Numerous studies suggest that grateful people are more likely to have higher levels of happiness and lower levels of stress and depression. In one study concerning gratitude, participants were randomly assigned to one of six therapeutic intervention conditions designed to improve the participant’s overall quality of life (Seligman et. all., 2005) Out of these conditions, it was found that the biggest short-term effects came from a “gratitude visit” where participants wrote and delivered a letter of gratitude to someone in their life. This condition showed a rise in happiness scores by 10 percent and a significant fall in depression scores, results which lasted up to one month after the visit. Out of the six conditions, the longest lasting effects were caused by the act of writing “gratitude journals” where participants were asked to write down three things they were grateful for every day. These participants’ happiness scores also increased and continued to increase each time they were tested periodically after the experiment. In fact, the greatest benefits were usually found to occur around six months after treatment began. This exercise was so successful that although participants were only asked to continue the journal for a week, many participants continued to keep the journal long after the study was over. Similar results have been found from studies conducted by Emmons and McCullough (2003) and Lyubomirsky et. all. (2005).While many emotions and personality traits are important to well-being, there is evidence that gratitude may be uniquely important. First, a longitudinal study showed that people who were more grateful coped better with a life transition. Specifically, people who were more grateful before the transition were less stressed, less depressed, and more satisfied with their relationships three months later. Second, two recent studies have suggested that gratitude may have a unique relationship with well-being, and can explain aspects of well-being that other personality traits cannot. Both studies showed that gratitude was able to explain more well-being than the Big Five and 30 of the most commonly studied personality traits.Relationship to altruismGratitude has also been shown to improve a person’s altruistic tendencies. One study conducted by David DeSteno and Monica Bartlett (2010) found that gratitude is correlated with economic generosity. In this study, using an economic game, increased gratitude was shown to directly mediate increased monetary giving. From these results, this study shows that gracious people are more likely to sacrifice individual gains for communal profit (DeSteno & Bartlett, 2010). A Study conducted by McCullough, Emmons, & Tsang, (2002) found similar correlations between gratitude and empathy, generosity, and helpfulness.Psychological interventionsGiven that gratitude appears to be a strong determinant of people's well-being, several psychological interventions have been developed to increase gratitude. For example, Watkins and colleagues had participants test a number of different gratitude exercises, such as thinking about a living person for whom they were grateful, writing about someone for whom they were grateful, and writing a letter to deliver to someone for whom they were grateful. Participants in the control condition were asked to describe their living room. Participants who engaged in a gratitude exercise showed increases in their experiences of positive emotion immediately after the exercise, and this effect was strongest for participants who were asked to think about a person for whom they were grateful. Participants who had grateful personalities to begin with showed the greatest benefit from these gratitude exercises. See also gratitude journal.ConclusionsAccording to Cicero, “Gratitude is not only the greatest of the virtues but the parent of all others.” Multiple studies have shown the correlation between gratitude and increased wellbeing not only for the individual but for all people involved. The positive psychology movement has embraced these studies and in an effort to increase overall wellbeing, has begun to make an effort to incorporate exercises to increase gratitude into the movement. Although in the past gratitude has been neglected by psychology, in recent years much progress has been made in studying gratitude and its positive effects.

Congratulations to Bayan Mahmoud Al-Zahran, the first Saudi woman to be licensed as a lawyer and open a law firm dedicated to representing women. Her success fosters hope of increasing women's rights in the Saudi, male dominated, court system.

Photo Source-http://www.adrianswinscoe.comAs humans we've come so far in a world of change. From adapting to creating, it’s just something that we've all learn to accept… well some of us. Besides encountering a situation that’s new and/or out of our comfort-zone, another major downside to change is our meager attempts to control it.Thanks to this fast-paced society based on instant gratification, we expect something as natural as change to happen when we want it to happen. Think about it. The postal service was too slow, then came the birth of e-mail. Reading a map was way too time-consuming, and now Siri gets you to your destination. As nature (and the plot of Jurassic Park) has showed us time-and-time again, man can try to mend the universe to his will but it will only go so far. Yet we continue to base life on the laws of “suppose:”“If I am good to this person, they should be good to me.”“I’ve helped you out, you should thank me and do better.”In a perfect world, being appreciated and recognized for our efforts would always be the ultimate end-result. However here on Earth the actions of its inhabitants aren't absolute. You can’t get a (grown) person to do what they don’t want to do. No great personality, degree, job title, amount of affection, or years known will lead a stubborn horse to water.Fortunately one person changing for another is very possible. Unfortunately it won’t come unless it meets the following criteria:1. Near death experience- Nothing makes a person consider a new way of life, until they’re close to meeting the end of theirs.2. Divine Intervention- God came to Moses in a burning bush. Maybe all it takes for a person to see the light is with a bit of spiritual guidance from above.3. A Personal Decision- This very small percentage are individuals who actually want to do a complete 360 and genuinely change for another.If the person of your concern has not experienced one or all three of these scenarios, then it makes absolutely no sense to expect them to adapt to you. There is a silver-lining in this world of change, and that is the undying fact that we as individuals can create our own change. According to psychology, humans are equipped with response to stressful situations known as the “Fight-or-Flight Response”. Either we decide to stay and fight to alter someone’s views or remove ourselves from the situation and make a change for the better.http://anaturalnay.tumblr.com/

" Don't compare yourself with anyone in this world, if you do so you are insulting yourself " ~ Bill Gates.

When comparing yourself with others in a place full of depression, it's a bit late to sit down with a piece of paper to work out how you can get hope back into your life. When blinded by moods of unfair comparisons, anything you focus on during that mood will feel like a mountain on top of a list of don't know's. So don't insult yourself by ignoring your brains need to rest because this is what is happening to you when your mind is filled with comparisons. Stop what you are doing and sit right down, exactly where you are, and sing "what about me, it isn't fair, I've had enough now I want my share, can't you see, I wanna live, but you just take more than you give" because your brain is taking more than your body can give and its causing both mental and physical stress. Cry out injustice if you need to because its reasonable to feel wronged, then when the crying has subsided, feel the tiredness in your bones and smile. Smile for the tiredness in your bones because this is a gift from God that you do not need to insult yourself any more. Bill Gates might have a lot of money in the bank, but its because he is human too, that he understands who you are. He may be able to hide in ivory towers, but its because he is brains and bones, just like you, that he can share with you what he said to himself to get over a sense of not being recognised for who he wanted to be. Is Bill truly himself right now? Are you? Why not ask yourself the question right now "who are you?" then listen without thought to the answer given. Once you hear yourself breathing you will know. You are life itself and its telling you to get off the tread mill. Bill Gates believed in his ideas so much that he used those words to push him through the pain of rejection. Sleep now and when you wake, push through your sense of rejection by taking some well deserved time out to "smell the roses" If you can't afford to, just smile.

Hope is to be Creative. Creativity contributes to well being and quality of life. Creativity may manifest itself as an ability to act in a purposeful new and surprising ways when in day to day life as well as when in a crisis. Creativity is our way of expressing resiliency. Parents can encourage creativity by allowing children to discover what fascinates them the most. Creativity within the self is what helps us to find the silver lining in all of life's ups and downs. Finland's Silver Children and Creativity (above) commemorative coin of 2010 and designed by Roope Määttä, an art student at the Kajaani Upper Secondary School, is available from the Mint of Finland @http://www.suomenrahapaja.fi/eng